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Boston Public Library’s free Homework Help program is underway and runs through May 25, 2017, offering free afterschool help and mentorship provided by high-achieving high school students. The program, offered Monday through Thursday from 3:30 -5:30 p.m. is open to students in grades K-8; no registration required. Boston Teacher’s Union tutors are also available during select weekdays from 4-6 p.m. for students in grades K-12. Visit www.bpl.org/homework for complete information.

“Homework Help is an essential resource offered to Boston’s youth to encourage learning in a safe, welcoming environment, and we are immensely grateful to Harvard University for their training support of the high school mentors who implement the program throughout our locations,” said David Leonard, President of the Boston Public Library.

Boston Public Library began collaborating with Harvard University to provide SmartTALK training to Homework Help mentors in 2014. Since its launch in 2008, SmartTALK has worked to help adequately prepare and train educators and mentors in Cambridge and Boston to help children of all ages develop strong academic and social skills outside of school hours.

“Homework help gives students the confidence they need to become critical thinkers and to develop their skills in a supportive setting, and libraries will always be a place that children can turn to for educational assistance,” said Farouqua Abuzeit, Manager of Youth Services for the Boston Public Library.

Online help is also available through LearningExpress Library, which can help students from grade school through college improve their skills by taking practice tests, completing exercises, and reading e-books. LearningExpress can also help college-bound students prepare for the ACT, SAT, and other standardized tests. Students may also search for articles and use books online with student electronic resources, and look for book, CDs, movies, and more in the BPL catalog.

About BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARYBoston Public Library has a Central Library, twenty-four branches, map center, business library, and a website filled with digital content and services. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts thousands of programs and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibitions are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit bpl.org.

Boston Public Library’s November author talks and literary events feature a variety of topics, including the history of dining in Boston, Shakespeare & cocktails, and improving reading in children. The Shakespeare initiative “All the City’s A Stage: A Season of Shakespeare at the Boston Public Library” continues this month with programs available across the system.

Justin Goodstein explores the history of Haymarket, from its beginnings as an expansion of Quincy Market in the first half of the nineteenth century to its current incarnation as a host of an ever-changing and diverse population on Wednesday, November 2, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square.

Hundred Year Retroactive Book Award of 1916: Three bestselling books of 1916; Robert Frost’s Mountain Interval, Albert Einstein’s Relativity, and Margaret Sanger’s What Every Girl Should Know, will be defended by Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, MIT professor Alan Lightman, and WGBH’s Margery Eagan. Author Stona Fitch will moderate the debate on Thursday, November 3, at 6:30 p.m. in the Abbey Room at the Central Library in Copley Square. Presented by the Associates of the Boston Public Library.

City of Boston Poet Laureate Danielle Legros Georges visits the South Boston Branch at 646 East Broadway on Saturday, November 5, from 2-4 p.m. to meet with aspiring poets and provide feedback on their works.

Reading Specialist Lorna Kaufman, Ph.D. will discuss her book Smart Kid, Can’t Read, which reveals the five steps to help improve children’s reading ability on Tuesday, November 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the South End Branch, located at 685 Tremont Street.

Jenna Russell, coauthor of Long Mile Home, an account of the Boston Marathon bombing, talks about her book and her work as a Spotlight investigative reporter for The Boston Globe on Saturday, November 12, at 2 p.m. at the Brighton Branch, located at 40 Academy Hill Road in Brighton.

James C. O’Connell reveals a unique history of dining in Boston, sharing stories of the most-beloved Boston restaurants of yesterday and today as he discusses Dining out in Boston: A Culinary History on Wednesday, November 16, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square.

Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim, established Shakespeare professors and humor writers, discuss their irreverent cocktail book Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas that adds a Shakespearean twist to life’s everyday highs and lows on Thursday, November 17, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square.

2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, and Boston Public Library honors the Bard’s lasting legacy with its Shakespeare Unauthorized exhibition, opening today in the McKim Exhibition Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the BPL citywide initiative All the City’s a Stage: A Season of Shakespeare at the Boston Public Library, connecting audiences to theater and the dramatic arts with programs throughout the library system. Boston Public Library holds one of the largest and most comprehensive publicly-held collections of Shakespeare, including the first four folios of his collected works, 45 early quarto editions of individual plays, and thousands of volumes of early source material, commentaries, translations, manuscripts, and more. Visit www.bpl.org/shakespeare to view the complete offerings of the initiative.

“At some point in life, everyone has experienced the work of Shakespeare,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “These opportunities at the Boston Public Library give all the chance to learn more about the creative genius of Shakespeare and how his legacy lives on today.”

“Shakespeare Unauthorized is sure to engage and inspire people of all ages, and we hope visitors leave with a better understanding of not only Shakespeare’s works, but an appreciation for the world-class Shakespeare holdings of one of Boston’s finest cultural institutions,” said Julie Burros, Chief of Arts & Culture for the City of Boston. “We applaud the Boston Public Library for ensuring these works are accessible to everyone.” (more…)

Boston Public Library’s fall Local & Family History Series continues, offering a wide range of topics from the Gilded Age and researching ancestors’ artifacts to today’s notable restaurants and the history of Haymarket:

Stephen T. Moskey, author of Larz and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the Gilded Age explores the intersection of wealth, celebrity, politics, gender, and race on Wednesday, September 28, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

Pamela Holland helps attendees find the stories of their ancestors and locate sources such as newspapers, diaries, letters, digitized books, photographs, and ephemera, many of which are now freely available online, to incorporate into colorful narratives of their ancestors’ lives. Wednesday, October 12, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

Lindsay Fulton discusses the tabulation of the federal censuses from 1790-1840, the records that survive, and the questions that were asked during each enumeration on Wednesday, October 19, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

The BPL’s own Justin Goodstein explores the history of Haymarket, from its beginnings as an expansion of Quincy Market in the first half of the nineteenth century to its current incarnation as a host of an ever-changing and diverse population. Wednesday, November 2, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

James C. O’Connell shares stories of the most-beloved Boston restaurants of yesterday and today—illustrated with an extensive collection of historic menus, postcards, and photos, discussing Dining out in Boston: A Culinary History on Wednesday, November 16, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

David A. Lambert helps attendees research World War I and World War II veterans through exploring how key resources such as family ephemera related to the service of the veteran, including dog tags, personal letters, or discharge papers, can give clues to the unit or the vessel to which their relative was attached. This Local & Family History Series lecture is presented on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wednesday, December 7, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

About BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARYBoston Public Library has a Central Library, twenty-four branches, map center, business library, and a website filled with digital content and services. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts thousands of programs and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibitions are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit bpl.org.

The Gilded Yearsauthor Karin Tanabe visited the Central Library on Thursday, September 15 to discuss her historical fiction work, which tells the story of Anita Hemmings, the first black woman to attend and graduate Vassar College by passing as a white woman in the late 1890s. Anita has local ties – she grew up in Roxbury and worked at the Boston Public Library as a cataloguer, and likely met her husband at the BPL. Tanabe is a Vassar alumna and first got the idea for the book in 2014, when she flipped through her alumni magazine and saw mention of Anita. She began researching the woman and quickly found that not too much information could be found, but the subject of her next book was quickly brewing in her head.

Tanabe and some of her friends visited Vassar to search through their archives to find correspondence and details about Anita Hemmings. She was active in school, a member of the debate club and choir, and a very intelligent woman. Though no “majors” existed at Vassar at the time, Anita focused on languages and wanted to be a teacher. The year after she graduated, her college roommate of two years leaked the news that she was an African-American woman after her suspicions were raised in their senior year. After college, Anita married and lived with her husband in Tennessee before relocated to New York City. Anita did not pursue a teaching career after marrying and having children.

A question and answer period followed the reading of a passage. Audience members were curious to know if Anita was related to Peter or Sally Hemmings (maybe), and if Tanabe had communicated with any of Anita’s ancestors; Tanabe has been in touch with Anita’s great granddaughter. Listeners also asked if Anita was involved in civil rights issues, and Tanabe said she was not, to her knowledge, but Anita had a best friend who went to Wellesley College who was. One of the most challenging aspects of writing this book, Tanabe said, was tracking down the name of Anita’s roommate; she wrote most of the book without knowing. Tanabe also discussed how the book has relevance today, as racial tensions and acceptance of others is still an issue more than 100 years later.

Tanabe concluded the talk by signing books and showing photographs of Anita and others related to The Gilded Years.

The next Author Talk is Tuesday, September 20, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, featuring Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches: Salem, 1692.